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Milk Dumplings in Rose Syrup served ready to eat.

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Milk Dumplings in Rose Syrup

Yield
20 servings

Soft milk-powder dumplings studded with nuts and raisins, fried slowly until golden and cooked through, then soaked in a warm rose and cardamom syrup.

Ingredients
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Ingredients

Servings
Units
Batches and reset

20 servings · US measures · 1 batch

Batching

Make one base batch at a time and fry only a few balls at once in a pot no more than half full of oil. For 40, make a second batch; resting, frying and soaking times do not change with quantity.

Original recipe: 20 servings.

Nutrition is incomplete. The amount of frying oil the dumplings absorb is not established; ghee, rose water and the two pinches of cardamom have no cited weight or matching food record in the retained data. The syrup is counted in full, which slightly overstates it if some is left in the pan.

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Before you start

  • Read through the recipe before mixing the dough. Gather the bowl, saucepan, a deep heavy pot, slotted spoon and measured ingredients.

Directions

1

Read and gather

For the whole recipe

Read through the recipe, gather the equipment, and use the ingredient lines to measure and prepare everything. Choose a pot deep enough that the oil fills it no more than halfway. Everything is measured and within reach.

2

Whisk the dry ingredients and mix the dough

For each batch of 20

Whisk the milk powder, flour, baking powder and a pinch of ground cardamom in the mixing bowl. Stir in the almonds, pistachios and raisins, then the melted ghee and warm milk, until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms.

3

Cover and rest the dough

For each batch of 20

Cover the dough and let it rest until it firms slightly and is easy to roll, about 20 minutes.

4

Stir the syrup and bring it to a boil

For each batch of 20

Stir the sugar and water in the 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add 1 tsp rose water and a pinch of ground cardamom and bring the syrup to a brief boil, until it turns clear. Take the pan off the heat and keep the syrup warm.

5

Shape the balls

For each batch of 20

Shape the dough into 20 small balls, rolling each between your palms until it is smooth with no cracks.

6

Heat the oil and fry slowly

For each batch of 20

Heat the oil in the deep, heavy 4-quart pot over medium-low heat until a small bit of dough dropped in rises slowly with gentle bubbles. Fry a few balls at a time, turning them often, until they are deep golden brown all over and a test ball cut open is cooked through with no raw, doughy center. Never leave the hot oil unattended.

7

Lift out and simmer in the syrup

For each batch of 20

Lift the balls out with the slotted spoon, let them drain on the paper towels briefly, and slide them into the warm syrup. Simmer gently over low heat, spooning syrup over them, until they swell and soak up the syrup, about 5 minutes.

8

Taste and adjust

For each batch of 20

Taste a dumpling with a little syrup. Aim for soft and milky, sweet, with a floral rose note and warm cardamom. If the rose flavor is faint, stir rose water to taste into the syrup, a drop or two at a time.

9

Serve

For the whole recipe

Serve the dumplings warm in their syrup as 20 servings, one dumpling each, or refrigerate them in the syrup within two hours and serve them chilled.

About this recipe

Research preview: these details come from our sourced research and haven't been reviewed by our chef yet.

Why it works

A soft milk-powder dough fried slowly over gentle heat cooks through before the outside darkens, and the hot dumplings soak up the warm rose-cardamom syrup and swell.

Associated with

South Asian sweets (mithai)

Gulab jamun is a mithai of milk solids, fried and soaked in syrup; its name draws on the Persian word for rose water, and it is a festival and celebration sweet across South Asia.

Taste

  • Sweet
  • Sour
  • Salty
  • Bitter
  • Savory
  • Heat

Very sweet, milky dumplings soaked in syrup with floral rose and warm cardamom, studded with nuts and raisins. · soft, spongy milk balls saturated with warm syrup; floral rose and cardamom aroma · warm

Skill level

Some practice

Deep frying at a gentle heat and judging the center take practice.

You'll practice: Handle a soft dough without cracks, Deep-fry slowly at low heat until cooked through, Soak fried dumplings in warm syrup

Allergens

Contains: milk, tree nuts, wheat

Milk powder, ghee, baking powder, golden raisins and rose water are packaged products: check each label for its own allergen statement.

Diets

Vegetarian: Fits as listed Vegan: Doesn't fit as written Pescatarian: Fits as listed Dairy: See the allergen lines Egg: See the allergen lines Gluten: See the allergen lines

Occasions

  • Diwali · a festival sweet often shared then

    Gulab jamun is a traditional sweet commonly served at Diwali.

    Five days around the new moon of Ashvin or Kartika; Lakshmi Puja on the main day.

    Next: November 8, 2026 (announced)

  • Weddings, birthdays and other celebrations · commonly served

    A celebration sweet across South Asia and its diaspora.

Course: dessert · Technique: simmer, deep-fry, soak · Time: 30-to-60-minutes, make-ahead

Serving and keeping

Best served: After the dumplings have soaked in the syrup Serve warm in their syrup, or chilled.

Make ahead: Refrigerate within 2 hours.

Storage: Refrigerate in the syrup within 2 hours; they are milk-based. No storage time was found for syrup-soaked milk sweets.

Leftovers: Refrigerate in the syrup within 2 hours.

Food safety

  • Use a deep, heavy pot filled no more than halfway, keep the heat medium-low, and never leave the hot oil unattended.
  • The syrup and the fried dumplings are very hot; slide them in gently with a slotted spoon.
  • Refrigerate any dumplings in their syrup within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F.

We make no cross-contact statement for home kitchens. Check packaged ingredient labels.

Nutrition notes

Most of the sugar is in the syrup the dumplings soak up.

The fat comes from the ghee, the nuts and the frying oil.

We don't show nutrition claims (like “good source of”) until our legal review is done.

Swap notes

  • nonfat dry milk powder · vegan

    Not recommended

    What changes: Milk solids are the body of the dumpling; no tested plant-based version was found.

    Not a swap: Plant milk powder, which has not been tested here.

  • all-purpose flour · passover.ashkenazi

    Not recommended

    What changes: The flour is chametz and the dough depends on it.

    Not a swap: Any wheat flour.

These notes don't change the amounts, allergens or nutrition shown for this recipe.

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Recipe url
https://isthebestrecipe.com/desserts/milk-dumplings-in-rose-syrup
Name
Milk Dumplings in Rose Syrup
Servings
20
Recipe yield
20 servings
Recipe ingredient
about 1 cup nonfat dry milk powder, 3 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a pinch ground cardamom for the dough, 1 tbsp slivered almonds, 1 tbsp shelled pistachios chopped after measuring, 1 tbsp golden raisins, 2 tbsp ghee melted, about 1/2 cup whole milk warm, about 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, about 7/8 cup water, 1 tsp rose water, a pinch ground cardamom for the syrup, about 4 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
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Milk Dumplings in Rose Syrup